Background

It may of use to anybody who considers using the `system' described here if I describe what I use the `system' for.

Firstly, I get an ASCII file from my Minutes Secretary containing a first draft of the Minutes. This is then edited into the body of a copy of a `skeleton' version of a main .TEX file. I had hoped to get my Minutes Secretary to do this, but unfortunately she is now a dedicated WordPerfect 5 user — oh well(!) — but this is the reason for the copious comments in the file EXAMPLE.TEX. When I am reasonably happy with the Minutes I send a draft version to the committee Chairman, and also to the Head of our Computing Department, for their comments and corrections. When their responses have been incorporated I issue the Minutes to the committee members, together with a provisional version of the Agenda for the next meeting. The latter includes a request for any specific items for the final Agenda, which I normally produce (together with another set of Minutes) and distribute about a week before the next meeting.

Therefore I need to be able to produce several versions of the Minutes and Agenda. The selection of version is controlled by three `switches' in the main .TEX input file. I also find it useful to semi-automate the `communication' between one set of Minutes and the next: this is described in Section . Section  details how the switches are used for each stage of the processing.

For the `draft' version that is sent to the Chairman I shift the text towards the left-hand side of the page and use a wider line spacing over a larger text-height. These allow more space for amendments, and they also allow me a greater margin-width into which to insert my own queries to the Chairman and Head of Computing Department. There is a \query command defined in the file MINUTES.STY to make the latter a little easier. The page layout is specified in the file MINS_SET.TEX.